So far we’re OK, although the “Rice Canyon” fire is pretty close to us. We’ve got co-workers and friends who have been evacuated, but so far we’re far enough away that we haven’t been. It is really smoky and there’s a lot of ash falling outside. Here’s a couple pictures:
Please pray for Mat’s Mom Dian!
I added a lot of new pictures to the GALLERY! Head over and check them out! New albums in the ‘outings’ section include:
EDIT:
Even more pictures added!!!! Now there’s pictures from:
AND a couple new ones in our “Randoms” album!
We were lucky enough to spend the last few days of Tiffany’s employment with z57 on the company cruise to Cabo San Lucas! We were part of the z-Cruise #4! (#5 is the following weekend 9/20-9/24).
After our rum was confiscated on our honeymoon (on an NCL cruise) we decided to try our hand at smuggling! To prepare for the cruise we prepared a blend of Malibu rum with some food coloring. 2 drops green and 1 drop blue and it came out PERFECTLY! We also filled a water bottle with Malibu Rum and one with Level Vodka.
Tiffany and I waiting to get aboard the ship! We ended up checking our bags to see if they’d make it through with the booze in tact!
We immediately began walking around the ship finding all we could, including the miniature golf course! About an hour after we got on the ship the rooms were opened up for us to get into. We had a bottle of champagne and some sweets delivered courtesy of z57! After about an hour of waiting our luggage arrived, smuggled booze and all.
After mixing our second drink of the trip it was time for the mandatory emergency drill. We grabbed our life vests and headed to the muster station.
After the muster drill we left port and met the company at the smokestack for a little get-together where the company sponsored drinks began. Here’s two of the couples on the trip with us. First we have Brendan and Lisa. Next we have Scott, Miranda and their daughter Ava.
We passed many military installations on the way out of San Diego Bay so we had to take some pictures of our brave soldiers (and millions of our tax dollars!). Then we got a good shot of the San Diego skyline.
Next was dinner where we sat with Daydree and Scott. Keeping my cruising tradition of at least 2 entrees per dinner, I had the filet minon and the baby back ribs along with a couple desserts. We got a shot of Scott playing the roll of Edward Spoon Hands due to his BICYCLE injury!
After dinner we headed to the back of the ship where there was free booze tasing and if you purchase anything from the duty free shop they were having a drawing later for free booze. We ended up buying a bottle of Amarula! for only $13 instead of the $23 BevMo wants. We came back for the drawing and realized this was the same time as the BINGO in the Mikado so Tiffany got out her $20 which I told her was throwing it away. I didn’t win any booze but the story thickens… I forgot that Tiffany wins BINGO every 4 or 5 times she plays and she was overdue. Second round, the “floating stamp” round Tiffany wins $200!
The actual second day of the cruise we took place in some morning activies (while we were still somewhat sober) including a scavenger hunt and the ping-pong tournament. First we were laying out at the pool for a couple hours and had a bucket of beer. Then for the scavenger hunt we formed a team with Becky to compete with Brendan and Lisa. We kicked their butts as they thought they’d be clever and take pictures of everything instead of actually bringing it back. Then was the ping pong tournament. Unfortunately I didn’t win because some a-hole had an illegal serve, couldn’t count and used a paddle he brought aboard so he got tons of spin. I still brought him to deuce and ALMOST won but it was BS. Single elimination sucks!
Dinner tonight was the Captain’s Dinner, a.k.a. Formal Night. We got some pictures of some friends for formal night. First is Brendan and Lisa then we have Mike and Laurel. For dinner I had Lobster and New York Steak. Tiffany tried the lobster and liked it! Also a nice shot of our towel creation. (Is it a pig, or a dog? We can’t tell).
Today we arrived in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We immediately left the boat and left for CABO WABO!!!! I couldn’t wait as I’m a huge Sammy Hagar fan and have been to a few of his concerts. When we arrived, we found out that all our drinks and food would be on Z! We ordered a couple waboritas. Then we each ordered a carne asada taco and a pescado taco. Everything was delicious! More people started showing up and our Z group went from about 6 to about 30. Drinks, drinks, and more drinks were ordered and consumed until everybody had reached a state of inebriation. A live band was playing, and life was great! We then found out that Steve was renting a boat and going to ‘The Office‘, a bar on the beach. We left Cabo Wabo and took a taxi there.
Once at the office, we ordered a couple more beers (as if we handn’t had enough to drink at Cabo Wabo yet). Tiffany got on stage for a chance to win 3 buckets of beer only to dance and have the dirty mexican owners leave the stage saying “nevermind”!!!
Then we saw Steve’s boat and took a water taxi there to join the party!
The last tender boat to the cruise was at 3:30 so we left on a water taxi, only Tiffany and I were so drunk, we realized after getting off the taxi that we didn’t have our sandals anymore! The ground was hot and our feet burned like crazy! Tiffany started to feel sick and once back on the ship she laid down (pictured) for about 4 hours while I watched TV and sobered up. Unfortunately we missed dinner and had to eat at the buffett but we weren’t alone. We ran into a handful of other Z employees who missed dinner at the buffett and later on that night!
Sunday was football day! We woke up and I immediately started watching pregame shows and getting ready! Tiffany was mad because all I wanted to do was watch football but it wasn’t my fault the cruise happened to fall over a Sunday! Well Tiffany was able to pry me away and we went to the pool for an hour or two to bask in the sun. It was cool and windy so we didn’t stay very long. After going back to our room to shower and get the sunscreen off we put on our nice clothes and went to the sports bar to start watching the games with the crowd. We ran into Steve who actually found our sandals which we apparently left on the boat in front of ‘The Office’. We got them back immediately since we all already had plans for the rest of the day and didn’t want to forget. At 4:30 (just before the Chargers game) we went to the Jeckle/Hyde bar where there was another free-drink party.
The chargers game didn’t turn out so well, so we left to the coffee bar and had some cake with Scott and Daydree and watched the rest of the game there. Then we went to dinner where we saw a very dirty lady which we just HAD to get a picture of! Dinner was good tonight too, I had pork chops and sirloin steak.
Tonight we had another towel creation which was this really cool elephant.
Not really another cruise day, we were in port when we woke up and disembarked the ship but while waiting for approval from customs, I realized we didn’t have any pictures of the atrium so here’s a couple shots of that.
Tiffany started a new job today with 24 Hour Fitness as a staffing coordinator. It’s a heck of a shorter drive, and seems like it’ll be good for her career and morale! Call her up and give her a congrats!
